Should America institute a Mandatory Sterilization program?

I ask this with total sincerety. I firmly believe that certain people in our society should not be allowed to breed.

When a man molests a child or rapes someone, they should be castrated. When a mother abuses or kills her child, she should have her tubes tied.

I think the biggest problem would be figuring out who would be appointed to make those decisions. Our politicians and governement officials aren't qualified to make such decisions and neither are most of the people in our country.

Maybe when I'm president one day, I will create a special panel to address this need.

I actually talked about this with my husband not too long ago. In our discussions we found that it was actually cheaper to prevent births than to provide services for the neglected children. Our idea was not quite so extreme, but it involved making it mandatory for drug addicted women and mothers currently charged with neglect or worse to were an IUD. This is not a permanent change for them and they would be able to earn the right to bear children if they met certain requirements.

I would not go any farther than that. while I agree that some men and women do not deserve the right to make and hurt children, I would not trust the power to make this permanent decision to any agency.

That's quite the stretch. I'm talking about common sense here, not killing millions of Jewish people. Good try though. So, you really think that there are people in this country who should be allowed to breed after killing or abusing their children?

"I do not know what you would accept as proof."Documented fact would work.

"Just a basic Google search, you make up your own mind."Okay, done.

You're (partly) right. The American Birth Control League (which was founded by eugenicist Margaret Sanger) was a lobbying organization, dedicated to making birth control available in poor neighborhoods.

In the late 30s, it merged with another Sanger-founded group, the Birth Control Clinical Research Bureau, to form the Birth Control Federation of America. In the early 40s this organization changed its name to Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

This part is true, and I hadn't known that before, so, thanks!

But what's not true is 1) that "the Eugenics Movement" became Planned Parenthood (there were other eugenics organizations and other eugenicists than Sanger) and 2) that Planned Parenthood is a eugenics organization. That's false. Planned Parenthood forces nothing on anyone, and contrary to propaganda, isn't anti-procreation. Heck, there's even a page on their website about infertility and where to get treatment for it.

So, yes, Planned Parenthood came from the Birth Control Federation of America. But the name change wasn't about covering up some sinister eugenic plot to secretly sterilize people. It reflects a decision to change the goals of the organization. Planned Parenthood is about empowering people to control for themselves whether they have children or not. That's not eugenics, not by a long shot.

Oh. I must've misread your intent when I saw "Check out Americans Eugenics Movement now known as planned parenthood." and "The American Eugenics Movement transformed in to Planned Parenthood. Same organization, different name."

thank you so much for this comment.I was just about to say how it sickens me to see so many agree with this premise.You folks ...or anyone for that matter,do not have the right to legislate birth right.Look at how many people have been released from death row because of wrongful conviction.Some innocent people have been executed.To those of you who agree I say Hiel Hitler and may someone in your family qualify for these programs you favor.

Honestly, why don't we take this argument further. Let's castrate the parents of the crooks that rip off ordinary people everyday with their predatory practices...They are more of a burden on society than the handful of idiots who can't keep their thing in their pants, or their hands to themselves...

But in all fairness, why don't we castrate rapist and molesters? Because men don't condone, but they understand. And the truth is, 90% of mothers for the most part do not hurt their children, so for the few nuts out there, lock them up like the rest of the crooks.

But no one has the right to impose any medical procedure on any human being without their consent and that's the law, unless it is a case of life or death or a medical emergency. So this would be a waste of taxpayers time.

Usually...doesn't the rapist and murderer go to prison where they have no chance to procreate further anyway? And I would think conjugal visits are off-limits to them also.

I saw a tv show once where a convicted molester voluntarily took some kind of drug that, in effect, castrated him of his desire. He felt he couldn't stop his temptation, so he volunteered for help.

That kind of thing might work, a temporary fix. But I wouldn't trust any panel of judges to oversee the kind of law that you're proposing. You're getting responses already from people who are in relationships that are diametrically opposed to procreation anyway, so if that's any kind of cross-section of what authority would consist of, then your idea is simply a slippery slope to tyranny.

That being said, I'd like to propose a feasible scenario of what to do with people who habitually spout lies, curses and carp and porn and blasphemy-----stitch their mouths shut. But that's a whole 'nother subject.

By the way, are you a Democrat or a Republican or what?...'Cause if you're a Democrat and become President, your goal will already be half done, 'cause your fellow legislators and followers' agenda will already have aborted or otherwise denied the possibility of life to most of the future population anyway.

I know there are many obstacles, but I don't think it's wrong. I think it could be applied accurately to some of the "worst of the worst" people. You can't tell me when you see a mother who murders her children or a man who brutally rapes a woman, that they should be allowed to breed????

If they are not allowed out of prison they wouldn't be able to breed - if someone commits a crime of that magnitude, like murder or rape they should be in prison for a very long time.

Sterilisation by the state is so wrong on so many levels, and as UW mentioned where do you draw the line? It opens the floodgates and starts pushing back the parameters of what is acceptable.

There needs to be much better rehabilitation programmes running in prisons, along with counselling and psychiatric care, along with an acceptance that it will never be safe to let a small percentage of offenders out

Not exactly, but it would be nice to actually punish people who deserve to be punished. Actually punish them to where they won't rape again, won't destroy a child's life because of molestation. Because, our current system does not work at all.

Jeff- maybe, I really don't know, it depends how barbaric we would like to become. I don't think that would work though, because all of our politicians would have no hands and how would they be able to sign anything?

The point is, it always starts out with what seems to be a valid position. But somewhere along the way it ALWAYS gets misguided. I'm all for castorating rapists and child molesters. But when will those in power expand the policy to include spousal abusers, those who spank a child, muslims, tea partiers,....... You see my point. And it ALWAYS HAPPENS!!!

I have heard the most horrific stories from a friend who is in the foster care system; Mothers who give birth to drunk babies, or jacked up on hardcore drugs, the kid ends up being crippled for life. Take the kids away, tie her tubes, and take a baseball bat to her freaking face.Cut off the child molesters pecker and shoot him in the back of the head. (Closed casket funeral). Maybe then they won't say "uh oh", the next time Chris Hansen catches them trying to hook up with minors.

That's the difficult part. I guess maybe we would need to set up some special "Breeding Commission" to figure that out. I would love to be part of that. It's just a pipe dream though. We rarely hold people accountable for such minor things like stealing, how could we ever hold someone accountable for breeding?

May I ask you, which group of people will you start with first, and what would be your criteria? I am sure you would include fat, white, bald men?

Guess you never heard of the Holocaust, or The Tuskegee Experiment. Two very bad ideas, that cost the lives of many people, just because someone else tried to implement their own idea of a BREEDING COMMISSION...

I had always think about this whenever there news such as raping and killing their own child. It get me really angry and I wish someone could do something about it. I would have to agree with you as I believe the same as what you are believing. I remember what my dad say, he say if he was the president, who ever caught steeling have to amputate their fingers, who ever murder someone should be murder the exact same...who ever rape someone should be castrated and who ever kill a child or whatever should not be allowed to have children PERIOD! I believe my dad is right, but I'm not sure about he others as people believe differently. Some may say it is cruelty but my question is, isn't it any different? They were cruel enough to their victim to take their life...why not do the same as a punishment?...I guess these are reason why there is so many criminal and violence in America because the law is to leany on the criminal.

Even if such laws were passed they would be abused and many innocent would be inadvertently deprived of right to breed. Poor people would fall into such category while rich would always find a way to bend the law.

Tooth for tooth, arm for arm was a law in ancient Babylonian Hammurabi's code.

The entire world felt that Adolph Hitler was insane, the truth is that the idea of a Caucasian Race with blond hair and blue eyed Superior Master Race was not thought of by Hitler. This thought pattern was formed in the United States for over twenty years before Hitler rose to power.

When Hitler wrote Mein Kampf in 1924 he used numerous quotes from prominent American Eugenicists and held a comprehensive knowledge of the subject.

Hitler stated "“There is today one state in which at least weak beginnings toward a better conception [of immigration] are noticeable."

It was not the German Republic of which he spoke it was the United States. Hitler spoke often to his fellow Nazi's how he diligently followed the Eugenic Legislation of the United States.

Hitler also stated: “I have studied with great interest the laws of several American states concerning prevention of reproduction by people whose progeny would, in all probability, be of no value or be injurious to the racial stock.

While the Third Reich was rising in power, American Eugenicists was very open to the idea that Hitler was ready and able to implement their research on a mass scale. Joseph DeJarnette, superintendent of Virginia's Western State Hospital made a statement ten years after Virginia passed its sterilization act in 1924. “The Germans are beating us at our own game.”

The Ohio legislature introduced a bill for sterilization for welfare-recipient females under the Johnson Administration. It did not pass.

Our state did not sterilize MR/DD and let Downs Syndrome males and females live on the same ward at the state hospital, thinking that Downs persons are sterile already. Many babies. Finally used separate wards by gender. Finally, two wards were used to separate the genders.

While I understand your passion to protect the innocent, your idea would result in abuse of civil rights disproportionately applied to the those who don't have the money or ability to defend themselves.

Emotionally? Absolutely not, and I'd love to do it myself. With a hammer. Or perhaps an eggbeater. Or a low-temperature blowtorch. Or some fire ants.

Rationally? Absolutely. See, the thing is, justice and revenge are two different things. Cruel and unusual punishment shall not be inflicted. The Constitution is kind of important.

Plus, even when the crime is about the same, poor and minority defendants still get disproportionally harsh sentences when convicted.

Finally, when you imprison an innocent man, you can let him out again when he's exonerated. If you castrate an innocent man or give a hysterectomy to an innocent woman, and you can't give them their bits back.

I get why the idea sounds good to you. It's appalling what some people will do to others. But in a civil society, we really need to be reasonable rather than emotional.

This concept might be very useful in correcting our government. Implement the law for the president and congress stating if they can't pass a balanced budget and reduce spending, they shall be put under the knife.

I think that anyone who has two green eyes and looks at the fairness of a child's skin should be forced to have one eye gouged out and one ear burnt shut.

Clearly! This is the will of logic!

For, those with green eyes can see only the money that the child's fair skin will create in the brothels; and only by having both ears can the green-eyed witch hear the appropriate bids by the sadistic heathens at the auction for the youth.

I think If someone on welfare kept having kids to get more money, they should have their tubes tied, so they can't reproduce anymore. They are not taking care of their kids and the tax payers are paying for them. I do believe in sterilizing any sex offender, actually hacking it off! If this happened to anyone's children you are lying if you say you wouldn't want this!

Of course I'd want it for the perpetrator if my kids was a victim. But for reasons mentioned above, I know that it would be terrible public policy as well as unconstitutional (y'know, that bit about cruel and unusual punishment?).

The whole premise of the OP stems from frustration with our justice system, doesn't it? But there are so many flaws in the proposed solution that it's hard to know where to begin to address them - except that some others here have already done so.

One problem that I haven't seen addressed yet is the underlying assumption that the offspring of rapists and molesters will automatically have the same traits as the molester, or that they themselves (the offspring) have no right to life. That's just not true. I know personally more than one child of a molester, and they are some of the most wonderful human beings I know.

I don't see the "breeding" itself as the problem, but rather all the other acts possibly surrounding the rape or molestation: the violence, drug use, dehumanizing of individuals, and neglect of the child produced.

Another problem that has been addressed somewhat is that the criminal tendencies are not necessarily known in advance; once they become known, the offender is likely removed from the gene pool by imprisonment or institutionalization. I know personally the family of a woman who killed her own children. There was no way whatsoever to predict that she would do such a thing. She had previously been a loving parent, but mental illness evolved into disastrously flawed thinking. She is currently locked up.

For those who are a danger to children, imprisonment is the best answer, to make sure they cannot pose a future danger. The problem is, that there seems to be an emphasis on the rights of the criminal in these case, rather than on the safety of children.

a rapist still has hands, still has feet, still has a mouth to spew hatefull things from,... as does a child molester,... more often than not,... the offending body part is NOT the one that seems to be targeted here,...

i dont believe that 90% of sex offenders can be rehabilitated,... they are just damaged goods,... we should lock them up, period.

nazi germany has been mentioned plenty of times here,... and the "slippery slope" as well,...

for all the conversation,... we till have not developed a list of candidates,... name for me the qualifiers for sterilization please,....

1 sex offenders? (this isnt logical since it does not remove from the offender the desire nor all the tools with wich he might satify it)

2 piss poor excuses for parents?,... beethoven was raised in poverty by what many considder to be an abusive father,... but we got beethoven out of that.

3 genetic disorders? could we eliminate things like downsyndrom from the gne pool,... should we?,.... recent studies are begining to answer why downsyndrom patients never get certain kinds of cancers,... the big ones, colon, lung, etc,.. the children we dont want may hold the gentic answer to curing cancer.

i would like it if any one would please offer up sujestions who should sterilized.

There are certain books I think society would be better off did they not exist. Would I support book burning? NO, and for the same reason I would not support forced sterilization, society, especially modern America, has no idea when to quit.

maybe it would start with child molesters and killer mothers, then it would go on to include down syndrome persons, followed by what some idiot psychologist says is a dangerous personality, and ultimately it would become a tool to attempt the control of ideas by limiting the population so a select few would have an easier time lording over the rest.

I think the comment left by Doug Hughes highlights what would be my concern over a law such as this.

There are certain books I think society would be better off did they not exist. Would I support book burning? NO, and for the same reason I would not support forced sterilization, society, especially modern America, has no idea when to quit.

maybe it would start with child molesters and killer mothers, then it would go on to include down syndrome persons, followed by what some idiot psychologist says is a dangerous personality, and ultimately it would become a tool to attempt the control of ideas by limiting the population so a select few would have an easier time lording over the rest.

I think the comment left by Doug Hughes highlights what would be my concern over a law such as this.

Rape is not about sex, it's about subjugation through violence and degradation. It doesn't matter if the victiom is a man, a woman or a child. Sexual contact is the weapon of choice.Removing the sexual urges and the power to procreate will do nothing to stop the hatred that sparks the act. If anything it will only re enforce the neagative feelings and make the perpetrator more likely to seek out other means of continuing to do violence.

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